Ink jet printers continue to experience wide acceptance as economical replacements for laser printers. Such ink jet printers are typically more versatile than laser printers for some applications. As the capabilities of ink jet printers are increased to provide higher quality images at increased printing rates, printheads, which are the primary printing components of ink jet printers, continue to evolve and become more complex. As the complexity of the printheads increases, so does the cost for producing the printheads. Nevertheless, there continues to be a need for printers having enhanced capabilities. For example, ink cartridges having memory attached to the cartridges enables printers to access data about the ink cartridge and tailor printing activities corresponding to the characteristics of the ink cartridges. Competitive pressure on print quality and price promote a continued need to produce printheads with enhanced capabilities in a more economical manner.